Do you feel like listening to some old style thrash/black metal with biting riffs that seem to come directly from the 80s? Here you go: Oltretomba, from Chieti, Italy, is perhaps the band that you need. Oltretomba was formed in 2007 by L.D., singer and guitarist, as a solo project; later Falco (drums) and Cochise (bass) joined the band that stabilized since then as a trio. After two demo tapes and a single in the past few years, in 2014 the first full length arrived, The Death - Schieràti con la morte. It is an album of honest black / death / thrash metal, in which the thrash side is predominant. Apart from the genre’s being a bit anachronistic, if not obsolete, the production is anything but excellent; the not optimal quality of the sound, which is raw and dirty, penalizes the rendering of the riffs, that are certainly well-made. Influences come from the old school black / thrash metal classics, from Venom to Nifelheim; Oltretombaare certainly able to have a personal touch, but unfortunately their music is affected by a lack of originality. It must be pointed out that the band seems to be aware of this aspect and does not even care about originality! In the biography, the band defines its genre as “retrogard metal”.

However it must be said that the songwriting is really good. L.D. is very clever at inserting moshy riffs so to wisely enliven the songs; the rhythm section does also a very good job and the fact that the work of the bass is clearly audible is much appreciated. The vocal style is relatively varied and sometimes adopts low tonalities closer to growl than to scream.

Oltretombaare often engaging and enthralling and I think the best example of their engaging rhythm is “Silence ... People are dying!”, that will make you mosh like a madman. Many other songs are effective and straight to the point, as “Crash the Disincarnated”, “The Altar of Succubus”, “Damnation Forth”, just to name a few, but unfortunately the level of the songs is sometimes uneven. Some of the strength of Oltretomba goes lost in songs such as “Cult of the Shadows” and “They Are Coming”; in the latter the thrashy approach is most evident.

Now let's see what the lyrics are about. The themes revolve around occultism, Satanism, blasphemy. “Crash the Disincarnated” is an apology of black arts; sometimes occultism and Satanism are bound together as in “Damnation Forth”. The blasphemous theme reaches its climax in “Lustful Skin”, where you can find an “adage” like this: “suck ... maria suck”. I think that sometimes there are allusions to current events as in “No Future” with his destroying all hope for the future; the text alludes to “terrorists searching for the final crash”. Is it intolerance?

All in all Oltretombahave definitely good potential and The Death - Schieràti con la morte is a good job. Efforts to improve the sound quality and to reach more originality are desirable, even if it is “retrogard metal”. I believe that this is anyway an interesting release, and you may want to give a listen to it.

Notes:Oltretomba in Italian translates for ‘afterlife’. The Death - Schieràti con la morte was released on March 20, 2014 on Fistbang Records.

Tracklist:1. Descending the Crypt (intro) 2. Crash the Disincarnated 3. The Altar of Succubus 4. Damnation Forth 5. Ashes to Dust 6. Silence... People Are Dying! 7. Lustful Skin 8. To Turn a Storm Against God 9. Cult of the Shadows 10. No Future 11. They Are Coming